Sorry, this feature is only available to TPM Prime members

Dont ever miss an article again.New To You shows you everything posted since your last visit in a simple, scrollable list.
More Info →

Tom Kludt

Follow @TomKludt
Tom Kludt is a reporter for Talking Points Memo based in New York City, covering media and national affairs. Originally from South Dakota, Tom joined TPM as an intern in late-2011 and became a staff member during the 2012 election. He can be reached at tom@talkingpointsmemo.com.

For Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight, the 2014 midterm elections must have provided some sort of sanctuary.

The statistical model that performed so well in the last three elections once again delivered in 2014, accurately forecasting the outcome of all but two U.S. Senate races. Months before Republicans comfortably locked up control of the upper chamber, Silver pointed to just such an outcome.

In other words, FiveThirtyEight successfully sustained the reputation it built in 2008, 2010 and 2012 as the premier election forecaster. But the rest of 2014 didn't go quite as swimmingly for Silver.

That's the main caption on the cover of Vanity Fair's latest issue, which includes a shot of the Oscar-nominated actor leaning over a pool table and preparing to take a shot at one of three red billiards balls, all of which are emblazoned with white text.

But that caption isn't the most suggestive on the magazine. To find that, you have to look closely at the ball on the left edge of the cover. With only half of the ball shown, the text is cut off, leaving a somewhat incoherent collection of letters: "ill lasio ex ape!"

Last week was arguably the most tumultuous in The New Republic's 100-year history. After two top editors stepped down amid plans to institute sweeping editorial changes and move the magazine's headquarters from Washington, D.C., dozens of staff members resigned in protest.

Some of those staff members are now eulogizing the magazine, while Chris Hughes, the Facebtook co-founder who purchased TNR in 2012, has been forced to defend himself from an onslaught of criticism.

It's a watershed moment for The New Republic, long considered a standard-bearer of American liberalism, but the upheaval had been anticipated by many staff members inside the newsroom.